end talk

Two years ago we spent the 4th of July with David Brooks. Thank God things have gotten better since then This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit endtalk.substack.com

Re-sharing a conversation we did with Daniel Pinchbeck, for the new feed! I found Pinchbeck’s 2006 book 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl highly influential when I read it in 2015, for the most part a sober and strange accounting of the crack-up of materialist reality we’re all living. Fifteen years after the book was published, I’d say that much of Pinchbeck’s conception of the moment we are living through is vindicated. About a year ago, we had a fascinating conversation about materialism, consciousness, and the blurry line between the mythic and the real. Enjoyable talk: check it out.Also: Pinchbeck posts regular essays on Substack, and just shared a free chapter from 2012 in audiobook form. Check that out here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit endtalk.substack.com

Last year, for its 20th anniversary, we recorded a conversation on Radiohead’s 2000 album Kid A. It is impossible to neatly convey how essential that album is, but in our conversation we give it a shot, discussing the album itself, its place in Radiohead’s discography, and its relation to the world then and now.Well—Radiohead has just put out a new reissue, Kid A Mnesia, containing both Kid A and its immediate successor (almost twin) Amnesiac, as well as unreleased material from those sessions. Hopefully we’ll have a follow-up conversation soon… but in the meantime, have a listen to our chat about Kid A. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit endtalk.substack.com

This Halloween marks a decade since the *formal* end of the devastating 2011 NATO intervention in Libya, and in light of that anniversary we want to re-share a conversation we had with Eric Draitser of Counterpunch about a year ago. We discussed the legacy of the intervention, both in the devastation and horror that have defined Libya since, and in the apathy and absence of memory that define the memory of that intervention now in the West. The episode was based off an excellent article Eric wrote on these same topics in Counterpunch last year. Take a listen, and follow/support Eric on Twitter and Patreon. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit endtalk.substack.com

We begin by discussing the cynical nihilism of the post 9-11 period… and then segway into a conversation about the Boston indie music scene in the late 2000s. How did the aftermath of 9-11 inform local music scenes? Why was it such a special time in Boston? What have social media and a consolidating media atmosphere done to local music?(This episode was recorded on 9/11/2021.)Songs in order of appearance:* Push Push (Lady Lightning) — Bang Camaro* God Is Going to Get Sick of Me — Aberdeen City* What We Need — Bon Savants* Cover It Up — Soft Pyramids* Nobody Is Listening — The Campaign For Real Time This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit endtalk.substack.com

This project originally started as a podcast, right around when the pandemic began in the US last year. For a variety of reasons that sort of fell away, but we've decided to start it up again to share conversations, interviews, etc. These will be hosted and sent out via Substack, but should be available in any podcast player under end talk.For the start of the new "season," one month after Cuomo's resignation, we discuss his downfall, the aftermath of the recent flooding in the NYC area, and how the media processes it all. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit endtalk.substack.com

We're joined by our friend Ben to discuss the shifting terrain in indie music from 2000—present. We cover the impact of the Bush, Obama, and Trump presidencies, the particularities of the indie sound as the genre developed and mutated, cultural stagnation post-2010—and we ask, what has changed in the last decade? A sequel of sorts to our Radiohead-focused conversation, available here: https://soundcloud.com/endtalk/come-on-kidsFollow on twitter: https://twitter.com/endtalkpod This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit endtalk.substack.com

We talk to writer Rob Rubsam (@rob_rubsam) about gentrification in the Hudson Valley and its acceleration during COVID, the long history of exploitation and fetishization of the Hudson Valley, and how all those NY Times articles square with the actual complexity up here. Read Rob's piece: https://thebaffler.com/latest/weekending-in-an-emergency-rubsamListen to Hudson Valley-based Frankie and His Fingers: https://frankieandhisfingers.bandcamp.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit endtalk.substack.com

we had this chat in march shortly before bernie dropped out—we mostly talk bernie and biden and the nihilism of this moment. article we discuss, by fintan o'toole: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/01/16/joe-biden-designated-mourner/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit endtalk.substack.com